Team Shredder

Mrs. The Capt'n's grandparents were posthumously honored at Yad Vashem in Israel the other day, for their heroic participation in Dutch underground resistance-type activities during the war. They risked their lives and the lives of their own 6 children to rescue an entire family plus 2 other people. The craziest part is that they had the mom of the family move in with them for 3 years, pretending to be the housekeeper, and then at one point, 6 nazi soldiers decided to move in, too. So for several months the Snapper family, the Jewish lady, and the soldiers all lived together under one roof. How they pulled this off without being caught and killed is more than my little mind with it's emotions can fathom.
In the picture: Holocaust survivors Truus de Hartog, fourth right, of The Netherlands and her brother Salomon de Hartog of Israel, fifth right, are surrounded by the sons and daughter of Hendrikus and Martha Snapper from The Netherlands who helped save them as children during the Holocaust, as they stand next to the Eternal Flame in the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007.
(The names of everyone in the picture are, from left to right: The Mrs.' Uncle Hans, Aunt Jeri, the de Hartogs, her Dad Johan, Uncle Jan, and Uncle Hank. Uncle Kees is no longer with us.)
This event hit the press like wildfire. Here are only some of the articles:

Associated Press:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/ISRAEL_HOLOCAUST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-10-25-17-39-55

ABC News:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3777685

Yahoo! News:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071025/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_holocaust_1

International Herald Tribune:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/25/africa/ME-GEN-Israel-Holocaust.php

Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/25/AR2007102502064.html?tid=informbox

Atlanta Journal & Constitution:

http://www.ajc.com/search/content/shared-gen/ap/Middle_East/Israel_Holocaust.html

Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Israel_Holocaust.html

Philadelphia Inquirer:

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation_world/20071025_ap_dutchcouplehonoredforhidingjews.html

The links below represent unique additional coverage beyond the AP articles above.

Jerusalem Post:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380656527&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Israel National News:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/135345

Yeshiva World News:

http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=11120

Yad Vashem Press Release:

http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_yad/press_room/press_releases/24.10.07.html

Our beloved Corny is having a show here in LA and we are so excited to see her!
We are wondering: what genius Werks will Mr. Eisenman present this time around?














Oh, and look what I just happened to find on the Susan Vielmetter website

Nicole Eisenman, "Team Shredder", 2006, Oil on panel, triptych, 49" x 39" each

We finally saw INLAND EMPIRE, and I think I developed tendonitis in my foot from 3 straight hours of tension. It was completely worth it, though.
Here are some of the things we enjoyed about the film:
Laura Dern
Grace Zabriskie
the soundtrack
the visual elements taken directly from Bacon
the Rabbits
the death scene at Hollywood and Sunset
the continuation of many themes and plots from Mulholland Drive, such as:
alternate parallel universes and Perception
Abjection
the power of Crazy Lady
love and things gone terribly wrong
The Actress and the windmills of her mind and her la vida(s) loca
plus Naomi Watts and Laura Harring appearing in the final credits scene was almost too cute to believe. Naomi Watts, who I am still in love with because of Mulholland Drive.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled event of The Capt'n boasting about her latest, maddest ride to say:
Jesus christ, AGAIN with the fires?
It's a really bad scene here in SoCal for many sentient beings. One person dead already, thousands and thousands evacuated, hundreds have lost their houses, and who only knows how many wild animals are either in trouble or have met their unfortunate ends?
It's supposed to get worse in the next couple of days before it gets better.
But we are among the lucky; neither the Los Angeles nor San Diego offices of Team Shredder have lost power, let alone burnt to the fucking ground. We, unlike many others, don't appear to be in harm's way.

I figured, what better way to celebrate the two-year anniversary of Team Shredder than to glide across the glassy, peeling, big waves at Cardiff Reef?
It was mid-morning, perfect Santa Anna-like conditions, and the crowd was VERY small and nice. The water was clear, and I could see all the way down to the bottom. Lots of cute little fish down there, looking like shiny metal trinkets when the sun caught them just right. All would be calmer and stiller than usual, with the high pressure pressing down on the surface of the water to smooth it out. Then a set would roll in, rising up into beautiful shape rather quickly and dramatically. I fucking love reef.
The only flaw in this otherwise perfect morning was me wishing that the waves would stay up longer sometimes and peel a little further. Because I don't know how to be grateful. But the tide had already hit bottom and was slowly coming back up, and I think the rule of thumb with these reefs is that they prefer when it is coming in and not going out. Will I ever really know. Plus more swell was due in the next day, and we were starting to get little hints of it. Perhaps these two elements were just what we needed, because we started to get bigger sets that were further outside, and thus peeling longer! Madre Mer! The magic of fall is upon us.

Attention people of Los Angeles:

I insist that you go to this opening, since it is guaranteed to be a high quality event. Because I sadly cannot attend, having to be in San Diego with the selfish little takers and high quality waves, I must send the rest of LA in my stead. Is that a word?
Just go! These are two of the great artists of our times.